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Biting Itself?

22 10:02:40

Question
Hi, I've had my rabbits for about one year and a half.. however, one has an issue. This summer, it randomly started biting off huge sections of fur, or recently of skin. My rabbit has had about three surgeries to get stitches, and gotten numerous tips from several doctors. We even have recently to put a cone on to stop her. However none seem to help when we let her back out of the cone. We've tried checking to make sure nothing can snag her fur, grooming her very often, giving her less bedding, but nothing seems to work. She usually bites on her chest area, or near her neck. She doesn't have the same cage as the other rabbit. We let her out to play for about one-two hours every day. We clean her cage every other day and empty her litter every day. Could this issue be from boredom? If she is bored, what do you think we could help with other then giving her more toys?

Answer
Dear Cathy,

If your bunny is not spayed, then it's most likely that she is suffering from false pregnancies.  At the culmination of this hormonally-driven cycle, she will pull fur from her chest, belly and sides to line a nest.  She'll tend it for a few days, and then lose interest until the next cycle starts.  

Because unspayed female rabbits have a very high risk of uterine cancer, there's yet another reason to have her spayed.  Please read:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If the vets you've already seen didn't recognize this problem for what it was, they probably are not knowledgeable enough about rabbits to spay your girl. So please check the list linked here for some referrals.

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps.

Dana